Verónica Beltrán, marketing manager, has worked at InHealth Technologies since 2012. Her responsibilities include customer relationship management, brand development, digital marketing, social media, and event planning and administration. She specializes in connecting customer needs with digital technologies to create and foster deep relationships with customers. B2B ecommerce is a key part of her mission to create phenomenal experiences for customers.
InHealth Technologies is a worldwide leader in the development, manufacture, and distribution of voice restoration and ENT products. As a business unit of Freudenberg Medical, InHealth Technologies has been dedicated to the voice restoration market for over 40 years. The company is an expert in product design that’s dedicated to patient health, safety, and comfort.
THE PROBLEM
Customers couldn’t trust the old B2B ecommerce store
InHealth Technologies had a B2B ecommerce solution built on a standalone platform that couldn’t share data in real time with SAP ERP. This isn’t surprising, as most B2B ecommerce platforms aren’t built on the foundation of an SAP integration. But it made life complicated for InHealth Technologies.
The old solution showed inventory availability, but customer service reps had to check SAP ERP for the truth and update this data manually. They were doing double work.
By the time a web order reached customer service, reps had to look in SAP to see if the product was actually available. If the product was available, they could process the order—but they had to go back to the ecommerce system and update inventory data there to align with what SAP showed.
If the product wasn’t available, they had to call or email the customer to let them know the product was on backorder.
Either way, InHealth Technologies’ customer service reps spent a lot of time on data entry that didn’t create extra value for customers. This drove up the company’s cost of order fulfillment.
Customers weren’t too pleased with this situation. Why couldn’t they get an immediate response on when their product would ship? Why did they have to follow up, on their own initiative, to get information that most companies provided automatically? It seemed odd to customers that they had to place an order, then call customer service to ask if the product was available.
Clearly, InHealth Technologies needed to solve their B2B ecommerce problem.
REQUIREMENTS
The new webstore had to leverage the company’s investment in SAP ERP
InHealth Technologies knew they needed to leverage their investment in SAP ERP for B2B ecommerce. The core issue with the old store was the fact that it created duplicate data and obscured the truth on product availability. The company committed to eliminating that issue with the new B2B ecommerce store.
The search for a vendor
The world of B2B ecommerce platforms isn’t terribly kind to companies that run on SAP ERP. While any platform can theoretically interact with SAP through middleware, that complex architecture creates many unforeseen problems. Ultimately, it can lead back to the same place where InHealth Technologies found themselves—with duplicate copies of business data in multiple systems, and no clarity for customers.
The alternative, a platform that’s built on SAP ERP integration, is actually pretty rare.
In fact, InHealth Technologies found only two vendors who offered a B2B ecommerce platform that included SAP integration. One of those vendors was Corevist.
Why InHealth Technologies chose Corevist
Another company in InHealth Technologies’ area also uses Corevist Commerce Cloud, and they kindly recommended the platform. This endorsement helped the company get to the next phase, in which they evaluated Corevist through direct interaction with us.
InHealth Technologies was pleased with Corevist’s communication. “Your team engaged in strong communication with us,” said Verónica Beltrán, marketing manager. “You came more prepared than the other vendor.”
Corevist’s deep knowledge of SAP
Corevist was especially prepared when it came to knowledge of SAP ERP. Verónica put it this way: “It was obvious that Corevist had a lot more experience with SAP than the other company that we evaluated. Our IT team advised us that Corevist was the best option. The other company didn’t offer as much communication in regards to working with SAP, or even launching the solution as a whole. We were left in the dark, but Corevist provided clarity and detail on working with SAP.”
Corevist’s SAP experience really emerged in the project phase. Verónica explained: “When we showed Corevist what we were working with in SAP, it was a little clunky because we were the first Freudenberg subsidiary to explore integrated B2B ecommerce. But Corevist guided our SAP team on optimizing our SAP configurations so they would work flawlessly with our new B2B ecommerce solution. That was a huge advantage to working with Corevist.”
“It was obvious that Corevist had a lot more experience with SAP than the other company that we evaluated. Our IT team advised us that Corevist was the best option.”
—Verónica Beltrán, Marketing Manager
THE SOLUTION
B2B ecommerce, built on the foundation of SAP integration
InHealth Technologies chose Corevist Commerce Cloud to deliver the best-in-class user experience that their customers needed. With our real-time SAP integration, rich product catalog, and customer-specific personalization, Corevist Commerce Cloud offered convenience and transparency that InHealth Technologies’ customers had never had before.
All Corevist Commerce Cloud solutions are managed and cloud-hosted, meaning that the company didn’t take on any significant new IT responsibilities. With Corevist monitoring, supporting, and upgrading the solution regularly, InHealth Technologies could rest well at night, knowing they were in good hands.
A powerful project methodology
Verónica spoke highly of Corevist’s leadership in the implementation process. “I loved the fact that Corevist took the time to help us on the marketing side. They also worked with our customer service group to determine the webstore processes and how they would interact with SAP. This can be confusing, especially when you’re dealing with SAP, and everyone has different job functions and levels of access. Corevist really took the time to learn what each person did and what role they should have in the project.”
A partner who has InHealth Technologies’ back
Here at Corevist, we’re known for monitoring our clients’ SAP systems with unusual dedication. InHealth Technologies is no exception. “A few times, we had an SAP-side issue, and Corevist let us know first,” Verónica said. “They were on top of it. By the time we got to work, we had messages from Corevist explaining what was going on and advising us how to address it. That was incredible. We’ve never experienced that before.”
THE RESULTS
20% revenue growth
Corevist Commerce Cloud provided a significant upgrade for InHealth Technologies’ customers, and customers responded with their corporate wallets. Easy product browsing, plus the assurance that each customer saw the right inventory and pricing in B2B ecommerce, combined to drive customers to spend more in the webstore.
The company’s revenue growth was a huge win. Not only did it help the bottom line, but it proved that InHealth Technologies had aligned their customer experience around customer needs. The company conquered the challenges surrounding product availability and transparency. In so doing, they cemented their value as a trustworthy supplier. This fact—the strengthening of customer relationships—is the true value behind the 20% revenue growth statistic.
Self-service tracking for orders and invoices
Not every B2B ecommerce platform can provide real-time access to customer account data from the seller’s SAP ERP system. With Corevist Commerce Cloud implemented, InHealth Technologies’ customers can access tons of information within the B2B ecommerce portal—even for orders that weren’t placed through B2B ecommerce. Whatever account data they have in SAP, they can see it in Corevist. This includes:
- Order history and status (orders from any channel)
- Shipment history, status, and tracking numbers (integrated to all major carriers)
- Invoice history and status
- Real-time credit status
“We’re encouraging customers to look up tracking numbers and invoices,” Verónica said. “That’s all possible now. Customers who had used the old store are telling us, ‘I love this. I don’t have to call to get information. I can get it 24/7.’ That’s a huge win for customers—and for us.”
Support for mobile sales reps
Customers aren’t the only ones who benefit from the new solution. The company’s traveling sales reps have started using the B2B ecommerce solution to place orders on behalf of customers. Instead of calling customer service and getting in line to place the order, sales reps just access B2B ecommerce on their mobile device. Not only can they place orders for their assigned customers, but they can easily check real-time inventory to give customers accurate information.
Streamlined customer service operations
The solution has had a major impact on InHealth Technologies’ operations. “It’s awesome to program pricing in SAP and see it magically appear in the webstore,” Verónica said. “I don’t have to program it in two systems. I know it’s integrated in real time. And of course, availability in the webstore is always real-time.”
Pricing isn’t the only procedure that’s been simplified. “We just increased our freight costs,” Verónica explained. “I simply program them into SAP, and the new freight costs are reflected in the webstore immediately. That’s a great experience for me. I have a clean process instead of the clunky Volution workflow. I no longer have to update pricing and freight charges in two places.”
In addition, customer service reps no longer have to pull web orders from B2B ecommerce and check them against SAP before fulfilling them. The webstore shows real-time inventory, and when a customer places an order, the order posts instantly to SAP. Available inventory gets allocated to that customer and their order automatically, meaning customer service reps no longer have to act as a go-between. They pull orders directly from SAP, since Corevist posts them there instantly.
With more time on their hands, reps can focus on value-added activities, building relationships with customers and advising on product choices.
Streamlined customer service training
The new B2B ecommerce solution has even simplified the company’s training processes. Verónica put it this way: “It’s so easy to train new employees in customer service. We just explain how SAP interacts with the webstore, and it all makes sense. Our reps don’t have to do that double work anymore. Before, we didn’t even want to talk about the webstore during training. It was just so outdated and clunky.”
“I compared our performance on the old store vs. Corevist Commerce Cloud. We increased our B2B ecommerce revenue 20%. Our demographic is older patients, not young patients who are tech savvy. The fact that they’re willing to transition from emailing orders to using the website says a lot.”
—Verónica Beltrán, Marketing Manager
SOLUTION USED:
Corevist Commerce Cloud
Your smart path to B2B eCommerce mastery.
Corevist Commerce Cloud offers our most sophisticated capabilities.
- Rich product content in your catalog
- Self-service product configuration
- Credit card payment supported at checkout
- Support for robust third-party integrations
Since Corevist Commerce Cloud is a managed solution with deep, prebuilt SAP integration, your IT team can rest easy—both during the project, and after GoLive.
Go Deeper With Supplemental Content
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